The Godfathers

"Oh, that reminds me, I would like to purchase the book on monsters from Tibet."

"Please take them as a token of gratitude."

If Books were going to be freely given, Jaron decided to take a few books on the different gods of Death.

Krista selected one on gods and goddesses of nature and the wild.

Cayden took a few books on proper sword fighting and other forms of weapon fighting style.

Raizo decided to take one more on Japanese deities and bowed to Richard. "Thank you."

Odysseus takes the book on Balkans monsters before another book catches his eye- one on the lore of the Balkans and Anatolia. He adds that to his collection.

He turns around and says, "Thank you."

Krista refrained from taking another book, not wanting to take advantage of Richard's goodwill. That and she had no real interest in another one.

"I say we cut the tour short, now that you all have some heavy books to carry back and have had your first real combat experience. [Glancing at Jaron] For most of you anyway. We'll visit the highlights of Vienna tomorrow" Emma said, holding the book '1984' under her arms, leading the way.

Odysseus follows her out of the store and back to campus.

Once he arrived in his personal quarters, he wrote a letter to his mother, sent it, and then picked up the book on the lore of the Balkans and Anatolia.

The book on the lore of the Balkans and Anatolia was a early history of the Balkans since the AW's founding. It detailed how the Ottomans conquered the region, the wars pitting the HRE and Hungary against the Ottomans for regional dominance. The book described how due to no one country having any real control over the region allowed for monsters to flourish. This in turn led to the creation feudal/warlord societies, with repercussions on the region today. Legends of powerful counts, heroes and lords filled the pages.

Before Emma managed to reach her sleeping quarters, she ran into Simone. Simone looked eager "Emma! The academy's quest council thinks that your students are ready for their first quest. On their first day no less. Usually it takes weeks! Don't worry, it'll be a simple quest."

"Like having to deal with knife wielding thieves?" Jaron asks.

"No. This quest doesn't pertain to knife throwers I'm afraid" Simone said. She pulled out a bright yellow folder "You'll be going visiting the Balkan Union for your first quest."

Simone pulled out some pictures that appeared to be of a village, surrounded by mountains "This is a remote mining village in Eastern Serbia which has requested aid. In the last contact with the village, it appears that villagers have gone missing. And it is not due to the recent flooding. Unfortunately we lost contact with the village and the Serbians haven't been able to send help, owing to internal struggles in the Balkan Union. We want you to go there and asses the threat and not engage with it."

"No. This quest doesn't pertain to knife throwers I'm afraid" Simone said. She pulled out a bright yellow folder "You'll be going visiting the Balkan Union for your first quest."

Simone pulled out some pictures that appeared to be of a village, surrounded by mountains "This is a remote mining village in Eastern Serbia which has requested aid. In the last contact with the village, it appears that villagers have gone missing. And it is not due to the recent flooding. Unfortunately we lost contact with the village and the Serbians haven't been able to send help, owing to internal struggles in the Balkan Union. We want you to go there and asses the threat and not engage with it."

"...On our first day? Really?" Krista asked, incredulous. They could only barely use their powers, this made no sense.

"Your powers have grown tremendously since you joined the academy" Simone pointed out "Now you must practice with them. Keep in mind the northern Balkans are not terribly dangerous. Probably some stray wolf at the village. But just in case, Emma will go along and make sure you're safe."

Krista thought that going from "have no powers" to "have powers" did technically qualify as growing tremendously but even so, this seemed awfully premature. Maybe this was the catch to the whole thing? After all, being given powers and then being PAID to learn to use them was almost too good to be true.

After reading for a bit, Odysseus walks out of his room to where the group was located.

"What's going on?" he asks.

"You've been chosen due to your adventures today for this" Simone answered handing over the bright yellow folder with the quest to Oddysseus.

Odysseus takes the yellow folder and reads through its contents.

He looks back to Simone and says, "A village in the Balkan Union that needs us to find their villagers? Sounds like a great quest to me."

Simone couldn't tell if Odysseus was serious "I'm glad you want to take the quest."

The folder contained 2nd class train tickets to Sarajevo, pictures of the village, a map of it (to be posted later), a map of Serbia and passports for each member of the group.

Odysseus takes one of each from the folder before passing it on. He then turns to Simone and says, "So when do we go to this union of ruinous states?"

"There's a train this evening and one early in the morning" Simone shrugged "your pick."

"I don't know about the rest of you," Odysseus says, looking at the group. "But I'll take the one this evening."

For some reason, going to the Balkan Union excited him. His mother never took him with her when she visited the area.

"I guess I'll take the evnening one as well." Not that he felt ready but he didn't want to be left alone on a different train.